Xmas without China follows Tom Xia on an intimate, humorous journey to get to know his neighbors. Tom has spent his life in between Chinese and American culture, constantly negotiating between his home life and everything else in the California suburbs where he’s grown up since emigrating from mainland China at age eight. With deep ties to his extended family back home and increasing pride in China’s huge steps forward in the new millennium, Tom is incensed by how China is so misunderstood, particularly in American media.

Devising a plan to put American fears of China in context, Tom challenges his neighbors to go through the Christmas season without any Chinese products. Taking on the consumer mission-impossible, the Joneses discover that they’re giving up not just their toys, plates, lamps, and clothes, but the beloved hair dryer, coffeemaker, X-Box, and most of their Christmas decorations.

Tom’s family and friends wrestle with our American drive to consume cheap products from China and find common ground as Tom celebrates his first Christmas around their tree.

Sponsored by Transition Palo Alto, Transition Silicon Valley, and the Unitarian Universalist Church of Palo Alto